Images viewed via a conventional display device can clearly be distinguished from the same images viewed in the real world. This is due to the dynamic range of conventional displays, which typically is insufficient to create the optical sensation of watching an image in the real world. Image enhancement methods have been developed to create a more lifelike impression of the image. Still, the limitations in the dynamic range of conventional display devices prevent even enhanced images to be perceived identical to the real world image.
In an ACM SIGGRAPH 2004 paper of Seetzen et al: “High dynamic range display systems” two designs of high dynamic range display systems are disclosed. In this paper two different dual display systems are shown which are capable of using an increased dynamic range of intensity levels for displaying images. This increased dynamic range provides a perception of the displayed image more similar to watching the same image in the real world. The dual display systems comprise a pixelated backlight and an LCD front panel. The dynamic range of the display system is substantially equal to the product of the dynamic range of the LCD panel and of the pixelated backlight. In the disclosed dual display systems a graphics processing unit splits the input image data into two substantially identical images by taking the square root of the normalized input image data. The graphics processing unit subsequently sends these two substantially identical images, preferably after gamma corrections and/or backlighting corrections, to both the pixelated backlight and to the LCD front panel.
The high dynamic range display system as proposed by Seetzen et al has not been optimized in respect of power consumption.